North America (New Pleistocene)
North America has become significantly drier. Certain parts of North and Central America have become desert. Even though this drying of the continent has forced many of the animals North and even drove some into extinction, life is extremely biodiverse. Western Plains Desert The North American is a desert covering parts of what is now Central North America. It stretches from southwest Nevada to Western Mexico. The desert usually receives about 5 inches of rain a year, but the desert of western North America is not an arid desert. During winter months, snow falls frequently here. ---- *An interesting avian inhabiting most of the western plain desert is the dust turkey, Meleagris deserto. A descendant of wild turkey, it is found in various locations across the desert, but is more commonly found in Texas and Mexico. It greatly resembles its ancestors, but is larger (standing about a meter tall). They gather in small harems or bands that primarily consist of one or two males and three to five females; the males tend to have a bright blue waddle, that scientist believe they use as a technique for mating. *Deep in the Plains of North America lives a small ungulate called the brown gazelle, Gazella rubrum. A descendant of a gazelle species that escaped from a livestock ranch and established a wild population in Texas, these gazelle are very thin and nimble and are considerably one of the fastest herbivores in North America. They feed on specialized species of weeds and shrubs that have evolved to store water. *The brown gazelle is the favored prey of diutripodes, Puma diutripodes. A cheetah-like descendant of cougars that hunts fast and agile herbivores, like Pronghorn and brown gazelle. It has a tannish-brown coat with small black spots dotting the leg, tail and head region. The diutripode hunts by chasing down it's prey and tripping it causing it to fall to the grown, it then grabs on to the neck and crushes the animal's windpipe. It evolved convergent to Africa's and Asia's cheetahs. Despite the creation of the desert of western North American and central America, many of the herbivores, like cervid and Pronghorn survived the climate changes and are fairly common throughout the western plain desert.' '' *Another familiar animal is the '''Coyote', Canis latrans. Though this future counterpart is pretty much identical to the Holocene coyotes. *A large beast inhabiting the western plains desert is the Sand Ox, Bos meritum, a descendant of free-ranging cattle. They are very similar to the extinct aurochs, this may be the result of interbreeding with primitive Spanish breeds. They have loose skin and come and in multiple colors, including black, blackish-brown, reddish-brown and tannish-gray. Females travel in large bands with offspring, while males naturally leave the herd once they reach full maturity. *A predator of the Sand Ox is the Gray Wolf, Canis lupus, the same species alive today. Forming many subspecies that live across the Earth, from North America to Australia. The gray wolf subspecies of North America are the largest and have the most genetic variation. *Another large bird that is scattered across the desert is the Desert Rhea, Rhea harenarum. A descendant of the common rhea that spread upward. It developed darker feathers to reflect heat during the hot summer days and thicker and much denser feathers during winter to block out snow. It closely resembles an African ostrich, but has a "clothed" head. *The Desert Boar, Sus harenarum, is a descendant of feral pigs or razorbacks. The desert boar has brownish-gray fur covering it's body, with black rings around it's eyes to block out the sun. It is much more biased towards a herbivorous diet, but can eat carrion. Eastern Alpine Forest Many of the animals that were forced out of the Western deserts, migrated here to the eastern Alpine. A temperate forest that extends from Maine to Kentucky and ends at South Carolina. It snows regularly during October to early March. Though the forest is very recognizable, the fauna is different. ---- *A descendant of a known and widespread animal is the Calico Squirrel, Sciurus nigrum. A descendant of the eastern grey squirrel, though the normal eastern gray squirrel is still relatively present. This 1 meter long squirrel is the largest tree squirrel in the Northern hemisphere. The calico squirrel favors the American chestnut as it's main food source and primarily feeds and mates on the forest floor. *A larger creature inhabiting mountainous areas of Virginia and Maine is the Mountain Bear, Ursus inmonte. A descendant of the brown bear. It was driven off the Great Plains due to it becoming a desert, so it migrated to the east coast. The mountain bear is evolved convergent to the Eurasian Cave Bear. *As the Great Plains turned into harsh desert, the American Bison was forced to flee east. While the Plains Bison went extinct due to the fact that it was adapted to plains and not forest, the Wood Bison survived and evolved into the Alpine Bison, Bison eastern. his new species has adapted a new diet of not only grasses, but also fruit, leaves and even wood in order to adapt to its new forest habitat. *Besides from fauna, an interesting plant evolved to live in the alpine of the eastern part of North America is the American Giant Bamboo, Gigantochloa americanus. A descendant of giant bamboo that was introduced by human beings during the Holocene. American giant bamboo grows in large groups in certain moist and temperate areas of North America and is often used for shelter by the small fauna of North America. *Despite being confined to Alaska during the Holocene, musk oxen gave rise to the Temperate Musk Ox, Ovibos silvae. A branch of musk ox branched off and evolved to live in the temperate forests, it lost a majority of it's shaggy coat for a thinner-curly coat, it also has curved horns to move through temperate forest. Category:New Pleistocene